Visual Arts from Canada & Around the World

Quick Hits – The John Lennon Rolls

Time to appreciate this Rolls Royce Phantom V, delivered to John Lennon in 1965. The Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria has held the car, and sent it frequently on tour, since 1992. It took the Beatles to Buckingham Palace to receive their MBEs in 1965, although it was still black then. It got the psychedelic paint job in 1967 from Stephen Weaver, a local artist Lennon knew.

It is the largest model made by the celebrated English car-manufacturing company, and had several custom updates, including modifying the rear seat to convert to a double bed. In 1967 – the year the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono shipped the 3,000 kg car to the U.S when they moved to New York in 1971 –museum notes

The car was donated to the province in 1992 by BC entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Pattison, who had purchased it at auction for US $2.29 million in 1985.